


A duet does not a symphony make

by TenkeyLess



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, please let me hug Elidibus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenkeyLess/pseuds/TenkeyLess
Summary: But itisa great deal more welcome than echoes alone.A fluffy, somber,hopefulpost-5.3 scene. Singing with the Emissary, where both he and the warrior of light find a little solace together.MASSIVE 5.3 MSQ SPOILERSTAKE CARE IF YOU'VE NOT COMPLETED 5.3 MSQ
Relationships: Elidibus & Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 57





	A duet does not a symphony make

You're minding a Means stall for Katliss when the compulsion strikes you. Absent since that fateful meeting, up on the lookout, you heed its call and find your footsteps guided to a disused path along the Crystal Tower's periphery. Shaded by the cool crystal above from the sun's best efforts, you take a seat in the grass and scoot until your back leans against bluest blue.

The thread of music just out of reach relaxes into your grasp as you let your head tip back, supported by the great edifice behind you. The start to a song once remembered, perhaps.

"Hmmm hmm hmm hm-hm--"

You hum, letting your instincts guide you, and find a melancholy tune in your throat. Giving voice and volume to the song in your quiet corner of the Crystarium loosens the knot in your chest, borne since your battles atop the tower. The tune picks up in turn, and you recognize it as the melody from Amaurot. Snatches of music played as you perused the Bureaus, a tune out of time-yet all too familiar on your tongue as you repeat it. Your heart _yearns_ for that time before time, an impression scarred on your very soul- _Azem's_ soul-and in the whirlwind following Elidibus's defeat you finally take a breath to absorb that fact.

Your humming dies away as you lose yourself in reflection, yet the music does not cease. If anything, it grows louder- _insistent_ -the longer you keep your silence. Blinking, you realize the crystal at your back is no longer cool. It warms you as the sun does, a gentle presence. You smile at the company, lifting your voice in duet to feed the growing symphony while your soul hums a song of happier times.

On and on the song goes, well beyond your half-remembered notes, yet you follow his lead without hesitation and he does not lead you awry. As the sun sinks, so does your song, drifting away to calm silence as the sounds of the evening rise. The crystal at your back cools, simple stone again, and you stagger to your feet on numbed legs to depart. Your heart left a little lighter, your unending burden lifted for the span of a song.

* * *

You find your way back to that music filled corner often over the coming days and weeks. Guided. Called. Requested. That little patch of tower that sings along with you carving out a place in your heart, to nestle companionably with the many hopes you carry.

When he first appears beside you, humming along in his white communal robes, you merely smile and continue singing.

Visits become habit, and you begin to bring him minstreled tunes from the present time to accompany the past.

And when he finally _speaks_ , you _listen_.

* * *

"Why do you do this?"

A light breeze stirs the air of the Crystarium, ruffling the edges of his robes. Sitting side by side, backs to the tower, his companionship is a warm weight you savor. You ponder your words, reaching for the skill to spin your feelings into coherence.

"Singing with you?"

He hums affirmation. Sighing, you look to the sky above, beautiful and blue.

"...I feel as if I did this before. Bringing you music from my travels."

His shade looks down, away, shame radiating through his aether.

"...I do not remember. The memory must be a fragment lost to me."

"Perhaps you might remember this, then?"

You withdraw Azem's orange crystal from where it rests with your collection of soul stones, chiming a friendly melody. Elidibus stiffens beside you, rigid as the tower behind him. Slowly, haltingly, like a fawn facing the unknown, he reaches out with trembling hands to cup the offered crystal. It slides neatly into the center of his palms.

"This...this is undoubtedly one of my people's constellations..." He warbles in confusion. "But I _cannot remember_."

Clutching the crystal to his breast, Elidibus curls around it helplessly. Your heart aches at the sight, and you reach out to console him. Touch feather-light, you brace his shaking shoulders with an arm and brush your aether soothingly along his keening soul. He turns to you in a heartbeat, burrowing into your embrace.

You remain like that for a time, humming that first melody-Amaurot's melody-to the grieving soul in your arms. You sing for yourself as well, for a past laid to rest, though its history lives on through you and your actions as the warrior of light. Eventually his trembling fades, his muffled sobs easing to stuttering breath. His fingers yet cling to you, however, and so you wait.

With a shuddering exhale, he hums along a few broken notes to your song.

And you smile.

Hope warming you that perhaps, finally, Elidibus is mending.

**Author's Note:**

> _I'm gonna grieve how I want to grieve  
>  And you cannot tell me he's not in the tower now, humming to himself with his friends' memories after that last scene_
> 
> Thanks as always to the [Bookclub discord](https://discord.gg/PvbG45u) for their infectious enthusiasm <3  
> If you're interested in chatting with FFXIV fic readers and writers alike, feel free to click the discord link and join in!


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